


Five Will Make You Feel Alright

by ThickStrings



Category: McBusted (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M, RPF, RPS - Freeform, implied consensual infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 20:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4718846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThickStrings/pseuds/ThickStrings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dougie and Ellie have split.  The boys take the press into their own hands.   (Based VERY LOOSELY on the fanfic trope of “fake dating”.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Will Make You Feel Alright

It was at the start of the second album release cycle when Dougie appeared at rehearsals with a bandage wrapped around his skull and crossbones tattoo.

“We’re not talking about it,” was all he said, and the other men all shared a look before nodding and starting an argument about whose turn it was to order Starbucks.

Sadly, the media were not as understanding as the McBusted boys, and soon enough photos of Ellie leaving a tattoo removal studio were leaked in Heat magazine, followed by rumours on Twitter and more than one list on Buzzfeed bemoaning their demise.

“We’re not talking about that,” Fletch primed the interviewers before letting them loose on the band.

That went about as well as anyone would expect.

“So James,” Johnny Vaughan asked, “with the other boys all married, are you and Dougie tearing up the town? Lock up your daughters, the McBusted boys are on the loose?”

James felt Dougie’s thigh tense next to his, watched Matt’s jaw twitch across from him.

“Actually,” the older blond said with a tight smile, “we’re seeing each other.”

The DJ laughed a little awkwardly, and moved onto asking about Tom’s latest YouTube video.

Matt’s jaw softened, and Dougie’s thigh relaxed against James’.

\---

James was softer than Dougie would have ever expected, expert fingers gentle against his jaw as they kissed and questions whispered into his skin as James’ thigh pressed between his.

“This okay?” he murmured against the beat of the younger man’s pulse and Dougie nodded, hips canting forward to meet strong muscle. He tilted his head back as James bit up his neck, fingers stroking up his waist. “Wanna make you feel as good as you look,” he breathed as his fingers dipped below the younger man’s waistband.

In the background, Marty McFly played Johnny B Goode. Dougie let out a mixture of a laugh and a sigh as James traced chord patterns across his thighs.  
\---

“So,” Clara Amfo asked as they sat in the Live Lounge in Maida Vale, “your single’s called Not About You. Is there any particular You it’s not about?” she asked, eyes focussing on Dougie.

Harry twirled his drumsticks out of force of habit, thinking it was probably best he didn’t have a microphone.

“Dougie?” Clara pushed as the silence stretched awkwardly through the studio.

Harry pushed his way in front of Tom’s microphone. “It’s not about me,” he blurted. “Well, I don’t think it is. Dougie’s not written a song about me yet. But, y’know, give it time.”

Dougie grinned at him gratefully and Harry settled himself back down on his drumstool.  
\---

The good thing about Harry was that there was an ease to things - more than a decade of chemistry and history will do that to people - and Harry knew what he needed more than he necessarily did.

He hadn’t asked Harry to invite him over or to take him upstairs, but as Harry’s fingers pressed down into his hipbones and he felt his body go slack, he was incredibly glad that he had.

A low moan escaped his throat as Harry’s tongue stroked languorously up the crease of his thigh, and Harry shushed him, pressing a kiss to his stomach. “Shhh, I’ve got you, this is about you, yeah?”

Dougie groaned in assent as he felt his eyes roll back, fingers flexing in the pillow. “S’about you too,” he murmured, sentence ending on a gasp as stubble burnt against his inner thighs.

“Mmmmm,” Harry agreed, “but not tonight.”

\---

 

It was always awkward when McBusted were interviewed by Greg James. Even more so during a week when Ellie was number one.

“Nothing’s about that,” Greg assured them all before playing a vintage Fall Out Boy track.

“And that was Fall Out Boy with Thnks Fr Th Mmrs. McBusted, is there anyone you’d like to thank for the memories?”

Dougie was pretty sure he could hear Fletch’s exasperated sigh through the soundproofed glass that separated them.

“Yeah,” Tom said slowly, “I’d probably thank Dougie for the memories, to be honest.”

“Okay, controversial,” Greg smiled like he didn’t have five members of McBusted shooting him daggers. “What memories would you thank him for? Would it be even because they weren’t so great?”

“Actually, it’d probably be because he tastes like Gi only sweeter,” Tom replied slowly with a smile that was all teeth. “Or, y’know, we’d thank the fans for the memories. Yeah, let’s go with that.”

 

\---

It would have been their three year anniversary when Tom invited Dougie over for popcorn and a movie.

“We can even work out instead if there’s too many calories,” Tom grinned. “Except, let’s not, yeah?”

“Marvel marathon?” Dougie suggested in response, and Tom fired up the television with a grateful smile.

They were halfway through Iron Man 2 - Tony Stark was giving himself a strong self-loathing glare in the mirror - when Tom noticed Dougie was paying less attention to the movie and more to staring concentratedly at the wall.

“You okay?” Tom asked, knowing the answer before Dougie turned to face him with watery eyes. “Hey, come here.” He slipped his fingers between Dougie’s and squeezed gently.

“S’just hard,” Dougie admitted, voice wavering slightly. “I’m pretty much fine though.”

“You don’t have to be if you’re not though,” Tom said softly. “There’s nothing where we need to be cool.”

“But I thought McFly were the epitome of cool,” Dougie said with mock horrror. His smile was still a little wistful, but his eyes were mostly dry.

“You’re probably still far too cool for me,” Tom replied, pressing his lips briefly to Dougie’s. The younger man’s mouth opened beneath his and Tom found himself chasing the taste of caramel popcorn off Dougie’s bottom lip with his tongue.

“Yeah, probably,” Dougie grinned a little sheepishly when they parted. “Anyway, shall we see whether Tony Stark sorts himself out? I’ve got a sneaking suspicion he gets over his issues.”

Tom squeezed his fingers once more as they turned their attentions back to the screen.

 

\---  
“Guys, guys, another one of all of you together?” the paparazzi called as they posed on the red carpet of Captain America: Civil War.

Danny smirked as Harry and Matt leaned against him in their latest formation.

“Hey, Dougie, we’ve heard Ellie’s seeing Michael Clifford - have you got anything to say about that?”

Danny’s smile dropped. “Hey, Fletch,” he shouted over to their manager, who was busy looking a mixture of furious and exhausted. “Are we playing nice?”

As soon as he got the steely shake of the head from management, Danny broke out of formation. “Actually, he’s too busy sleeping with me to care about that, thanks,” he shouted over to the paparazzi, who paused for a second, before circling round them even tighter.

Danny looked back over at Fletch as the photobulbs exploded in his vision. The older man looked mortified, and possibly like he was pulling what was left of his remaining hair out. Danny found that he didn’t desperately care.

\---

“The thing is,” Danny told Dougie as they sat in the hotel bar, Danny on his third beer and Dougie sipping sparkling water, “the thing is that they’re all wrong about it, aren’t they?”

“They are?” Dougie asked with a grin. “Why are they wrong, Dan?”

“Well, it’s not interesting who’s fucking who, is it? It’s only interesting when you’re doing the fucking.” He paused. “Or being fucked, I guess.”

“I wish you ran the tabloids,” Dougie laughed, fingers reaching into his jeans and fumbling for his Zippo. “Gonna go smoke.”

“See, the thing is,” Danny continued, following Dougie out of the cracked side door. “The thing is that I don’t care who you’re fucking.” There was a click as Dougie’s lighter sparked against his cigarette.

“But that doesn’t prove anything, Dan,” Dougie laughed through a deep inhale of smoke, grin still playing over his lips as Danny tilted his head as though summing things up.

“I know.” There was a pause for several beats and the sound of Dougie’s cigarette burning was the only noise in the hotel courtyard. “I guess it’d prove something if I cared that I was fucking you.” Danny said slowly as the air went very still between them.

Dougie’s fingers twitched as he ashed his cigarette. He took another drag, watched as Danny’s eyes tracked the movement of his lips. He exhaled the smoke in a long curl that spiraled up into the clouds. “And would you?” he asked eventually, stubbing his cigarette out under the toe of his YSL boots.

“I guess we could always find out.” Danny headed back through the door, leaving the statement open. He allowed himself to feel a little smug as he heard Dougie’s boots click on the tiles as the bassist followed him inside.

\---

“Welcome back to Even More Music Month here on Radio One and the cameras in the studio are on - we are live with McBusted! So, let’s discuss the elephant in the room,” Nick Grimshaw said as McBusted pretended to be far more awake than anyone could expect at 7:30 in the morning.

“Number #1 album?” Harry suggested.

“Sold out tour?” James interjected.

“I’ve broken 500 million views on YouTube?” Tom piped up, only to get a groan of disgust from the other five band members.

“All excellent points, but no,” the DJ said smoothly. “You’ve been causing your PR team a little bit of a headache this year, haven’t you?”

“I think we’ve been worse, haven’t we?” Danny asked Fletch through the window, who shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

“Possibly,” Nick smiled. “But I’m talking about all of you supposedly dating Dougie. It’s nice, really, I like it.”

“We’re shocked,” Matt drawled sarcastically.

“That’s a point, Mathew,” the northerner said sharply, turning his attentions to the older of the group’s bassists, “you’re the only member of McBusted to not have been ‘dating’ young Mr Poynter.”

“I’m twenty-eight, Grimmy, that’s pretty much dead in boyband years,” Dougie interjected mildly, causing Matt to chuckle next to him.

“Yes, yes, Popstar, I know, but I guess I’m just surprised you didn’t ‘date’ Matt first, really - I mean, we’ve all seen you kiss on stage.”

“Glad you’ve been buying tickets to our shows, Nick,” Matt smirked. “But I’m a gentleman, I don’t like to kiss and tell.”

“And we’ll be talking about your new single Kiss And Tell after this one from Zayn Malik,” Grimmy segued, pushing up the faders on the track.

“We still on camera?” Matt asked, and Nick’s production team nodded. “Oh good.”

It took Matt roughly half a second to wind his fingers into Dougie’s hair, pulling him in for a long, slow kiss directly in front of the studio cameras, nipping softly at the younger man’s lip as he pulled away.

“D’you always like to get into trouble with Emma when you do this show?” Nick asked with a smirk as he watched the phone’s switchboard light up.

“Y’know what, Grimmy, you’d be surprised,” Matt grinned as he watched Fletch turn seventeen shades of purple through the studio door.

\---

Coming home to find his wife kissing another man wasn’t the first thing that Matt Willis expected after a day writing with James.

“I didn’t know you were coming over, Dougie.”

It was maybe the third or fourth thing he expected.

“I’ve missed him,” Emma replied from the sofa, her long legs tangled around the younger man’s waist. “Figured it was time we all had a catch-up. And my mum agreed to take the kids,” she grinned.

“I’m a far luckier man than I deserve,” Matt said simply, throwing his keys and phone on the coffee table.

“We know,” Emma and Dougie replied in unison, and Matt honestly didn’t know who to touch first.

“Shall we take it upstairs?” he asked as he hungrily watched Dougie’s hand slide up Emma’s thigh. “Or shall I just join you?”

He didn’t get an option to answer as Emma grabbed a handful of Matt’s shirt and pulled him into her and Dougie’s laps.

On the muted television in the background, E! News broke the story that Ellie Goulding and Karlie Kloss had announced they were an item. Nobody on the sofa noticed.


End file.
